{"id":5482,"date":"2014-04-23T18:23:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T22:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5482"},"modified":"2014-04-23T18:23:25","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T22:23:25","slug":"board-members-contest-status-of-casd-solicitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=5482","title":{"rendered":"Board members contest status of CASD solicitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stu Deets asks for RFP to explore replacing James Ellison<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kyle Carrozza<\/strong>,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"CASH\u2019s<\/a>

CASH\u2019s BRIDGEE Step Team performs at Tuesday night\u2019s meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

CALN \u2013 More controversy erupted over the Coatesville Area School Board\u2019s decision to retain Solicitor James Ellison at its meeting Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Near the beginning of the meeting, Board Member Stu Deets proposed adding an item to the agenda that would put out a request-for-proposals (RFP) to look into hiring a new solicitor. Deets said the action \u00a0would not be passing judgment on Ellison but utilizing best business practices for the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut out an RFP. Mr. Ellison can respond to that RFP just like everybody else has the opportunity to, but at least everybody else gets that opportunity,\u201d said Deets.<\/p>\n

Deets\u2019s proposal comes after the board\u2019s January decision to retain Ellison, who has been identified as a subject in the District Attorney\u2019s investigation of the district. Deets \u00a0said that the board approved the provisional contract with the understanding that it would examine its options in the future. Board Members Deborah Thompson and Diane Brownfield also said that they would support an RFP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Board President Neil Campbell, however, said that board policy dictates that an RFP for a new solicitor must go out in January. No item was added to the agenda, but the matter was brought up later in the meeting.<\/p>\n

During public comment, resident Greg Wynn questioned Campbell\u2019s explanation. \u201cI thought before that you had bad decisions; now I know you\u2019re not a man of your word,\u201d Wynn said. He also warned other board members: \u201cMr. Ellison and Mr. Campbell are playing you right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board Member Deborah Thompson said that she would have acted differently in January if she \u00a0had been familiar with the board\u2019s policy at the time. \u201cI would have pushed a lot harder in January had I understood that we\u2019d be at this point today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Deets went on to propose a policy change that would allow the board to send out RFPs \u201cin January or as needed.\u201d The policy change would require a first and second reading and a board vote in future meetings before it could be enacted.<\/p>\n

Campbell defended the board\u2019s decision to keep Ellison, saying that the solicitor\u2019s decision to leave his previous law firm, Rhoads and Sinon, and begin practicing on his own as the Susquehanna Legal Group has saved the district money.<\/p>\n

As a part of his stated objective to be more responsive, Campbell \u00a0noted the difference in cost between Rhoads and Sinon and Susquehanna Legal Group. Campbell said that the district paid Rhoads and Sinon $936,000 over the course of the 2012-2013 school year, whereas Susquehanna Legal has charged the district $76,000 \u00a0over the course of two months.<\/p>\n

He also said that Right-to-Know requests have cost the district $20,000. \u201cWhen you get it, use it properly,\u201d he said of the requests.<\/p>\n

Board Member Jim Fox pointed out that the district hired Conrad O\u2019Brien to conduct an internal investigation partially because of residents\u2019 requests. He said that the district has had to pay that firm $600,000 since the beginning of its investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think we like having them here? No, we didn\u2019t want them here, but you wanted them,\u201d said Fox.<\/p>\n

On a related note, Campbell said that Conrad O\u2019Brien\u2019s investigation of the district has been completed. He said that he has not yet read through the entire report and is not sure if it will be released to the public.<\/p>\n

Tuesday night also saw the board approve various renovations to the Citadel Building, which is to become the district\u2019s new administration building. With flooring, construction, electrical renovation, mechanical renovation, and furniture, Tuesday\u2019 night\u2019s approvals totaled just over $300,000.<\/p>\n

Coatesville Area Senior High\u2019s BRIDGEE Step Team as well as parents and students from Alternative Education were honored.<\/p>\n

Alternative Education Principal Dr. Eugenia Roberts recognized the step team for being part of a program that provided positive influence for young men of color in the area. The team, consisting of Ron J. Jones, Christopher Hallagher, Anthony Story, Rajon Jones, and Sha-Var Saint John, performed for the audience.<\/p>\n

Roberts also recognized parents and students who overcame difficulties to become graduates-to-be this year. \u201cWhen you think they can\u2019t do it, this is an example of doing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stu Deets asks for RFP to explore replacing James Ellison By Kyle Carrozza,\u00a0Staff Writer, The Times CALN \u2013 More controversy erupted over the Coatesville Area School Board\u2019s decision to retain Solicitor James Ellison at its meeting Tuesday night. Near the beginning of the meeting, Board Member Stu Deets proposed adding an item to the agenda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[3513,3514,1827,3515,3516,3517],"class_list":["post-5482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-board-member-deborah-thompson","tag-board-member-jim-fox","tag-board-president-neil-campbell","tag-greg-wynn","tag-rhoads-and-sinon","tag-susquehanna-legal-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}